Project Hyperion (A Kaiju Thriller) (Kaiju #4)

There’s no body, but millions of her shimmering scales have washed up on the shores of Massachusetts, from Rockport to the Cape. People are collecting them and selling them on eBay. I saw a chandelier made from them, which cast beautiful light, and I hear the Chinese have a growing demand for “feather dust” which is supposed to make men more “virile” and women more likely to have boys. I think it’s more likely to cause them to grow claws and go on a vengeful killing spree, but who am I to stand between a man and his “monster” boner?

Although most of the public attention has been on Maigo, a lot of people have been working behind the scenes to locate the body of General Lance Gordon, with no luck. My hope is that Endo or some other Zoomb employee snuck away with the body to cover up their involvement, which they have done quite well, but my fear is that he got up and walked away. As for Endo, I know exactly where he is. In the few public appearances Paul Stanton has made, Endo can be seen standing in the background, watching for danger. Despite his efforts to stop Gordon and the fact that he might have saved my life, I would love to bring the man in and lock him up. But there’s no evidence against him, Gordon or Zoomb that hasn’t disappeared, including anything conclusive from the fake Nike site in Maine, which was completely incinerated when Gordon destroyed the building. While this lack of evidence has kept us from making arrests, we’ve opened files on everyone we believe is involved. We’re watching them all closely, with cooperation from other agencies...which is what the DHS does best. If Endo is up to something, we’ll figure it out eventually.

There’s been plenty of speculation about what the monster is, what she wanted and where she’ll go next, but no one, myself included, has any idea. At first, most people didn’t believe a little girl could be part of something so massive and horrific, but after seeing the photos or videos of Nemesis, or what was left of Boston, even the most skeptical were willing to believe just about anything. Thankfully, TV audiences found the idea of a little girl being bonded to a city-destroying behemoth to be disturbing and stopped watching. In response, the news channels focused on the Nemesis angle—that a god-monster laid waste to several cities and killed thousands just to avenge a single murder. And that’s what people really need to hear. Somewhere in the world, lurking in the depths of the ocean, is a being capable of obliterating a large city. But she’s not just a mindless creature or hungry predator, she is the judge, jury and executioner for the entire human race, and if she finds you guilty, well, the images of Boston are impossible to forget.

Several wars came to an abrupt end.

Crime is down. Globally.

Again, this might be messed up, and my fellow New Englanders might lynch me for saying it (which is why I keep it to myself), but in the long run, I think Maigo might have done the world a favor. The wrath of God, who not everyone believes in, only goes so far into scaring people into peace, especially when several different religions heap wrath upon each other, and Jesus technically heaps wrath upon himself. From a global perspective, lives and money will have been saved as a result of Boston’s destruction. I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers of saved surpasses the number of dead within a few months, and dwarfs it within a few years...if we can keep the human race on track.

If we can’t, she’ll be back faster than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And the FC-P will be waiting for her with a bigger budget, direct access to military resources and four of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Woodstock enthusiastically declared his allegiance to the team when I asked him if he’d like to stay on permanently. He even agreed to name the chopper Betty in honor of my truck, which as it turns out, took a bullet for me, something I’m pretty sure girlfriend-Betty would never have done.

Girlfriend-Ashley Collins on the other hand—she’d take a bullet for me. And I’d do the same for her. Her response to staying on long-term was more thought out than Woodstock’s, mostly because of our relationship, but in the end she couldn’t deny we made a good team. Watson stayed with Cooper through her surgery and several days of recovery. It was a display of affection and camaraderie that made me, and Cooper very happy. There was nothing romantic between them, but it really revealed that our past five years chasing shadows wasn’t a complete waste of time. We were all loners in our own ways, but not really anymore—we have each other now. After three weeks off, we met in the refurbished Crow’s Nest and got back to work, which led Collins and me to this lush, lime-green redwood forest.

“Fine,” she says, “I’m pretty sure this is a bust, anyway.”

“Get used to it,” I say. “Not every mission results in mass destruction, helicopter acrobatics and new girlfriends.”

I stand, and then freeze.

“What?” she says. “You’re not going right here, are you?”

“Shh,” I say gently. “Smell something.”

I crouch slowly, and lie back down, picking up the air rifle lying next to me.

Collins brushes away the ghillie suit tendrils hanging in front of her face and gives me a, “don’t screw with me” face.

I give her a wide eyed, “I’m serious!” look and face forward.